Mechanism of Relieving Alcohol and Protecting Liver of Yigancao Herbal Tea Based on Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking Technology

Objective: To explore the mechanism of relieving alcohol and protecting liver of Yigancao herbal tea by network pharmacology and molecular docking technology. Methods: The active components of 9 traditional Chinese medicines in Yigancao herbal teawere obtained through Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP), Traditional Chinese Medicines Integrated Database (TCMID) and Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for Molecular Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine (BATMAN-TCM). The related targets were predicted by Swiss Target Prediction and Target Net databases, while the targets related to liver disease were collected by The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD), Functional Protein Association Network (STRING) and Uniprot database. The targets of Yigancao herbal tea were screened by drug action target and liver disease target interaction, and the protein interaction network of liver protection target was further constructed. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways involved in the targets were analyzed using the Databasefor Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID), and the network was constructed and analyzed by Cytoscape software. With the help of Auto Dock software, the key components and important targets were verified by molecular docking. Results: The results showed that 186 active components of Yigancao herbal tea were screened and 298 targets were obtained, including 78 targets related to liver diseases. These targets were mainly involved in Pathways in cancer, Calcium signal pathway, Neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, Serotonergic synapse, cGMP-PKG signaling pathway and other pathways to protect liver. Conclusion: This study revealled that Yigancao herbal tea could exert the effect of relieving alcohol and protecting liver through the regulation network of multi-components, multi-targets and multi-pathways, which provides a scientific basis for the research and clinical application of Yigancao herbal tea in the treatment of alcoholic liver disease.